


Say "No" To The Dress

by ruff_ethereal



Category: Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Awkward Flirting, Awkward Romance, F/M, First Dates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-30
Updated: 2015-04-30
Packaged: 2018-03-26 12:54:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3851737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ruff_ethereal/pseuds/ruff_ethereal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sashi has trouble getting ready for her first date with Penn, and her mother helps her out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Say "No" To The Dress

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Anonymous](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anonymous/gifts), [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts), [radiowrittenheart](https://archiveofourown.org/users/radiowrittenheart/gifts).



> Yes, the title is a parody of the show "Say 'Yes' To The Dress."
> 
> For the anonymous that wanted awkward Penashi this time.

“No. Too frilly.”

Out went the dress, onto Sashi's bed in a growing pile with all the others.

“How about this one? Nah, trying too hard. What would it look like if I was wearing this?”

Sashi's mind brought up some interesting images of herself, her cheeks burned red, and off the dress flew, farther than the rest.

“And this…? Ugh, no, why is this even in my closet?!”

Sashi grabbed it and wrenched it out. She was about to move on to the next dress when she realized she had run out of them.

Sashi turned her head back to the massive pile of clothes on her bed, then back at her open closet. All that was left was her tops, skirts, shorts, and pants, all good for most every occasion except the most formal of events, and tonight:

Her first date ever in her entire life.

Sashi raised her arms into the air and screamed. She was still grumbling and venting her frustration when her bedroom door opened.

“Having trouble getting ready, sweetie?” Mrs. Kobayashi asked.

Sashi turned to her mother with a scowl on her face. She bit down the “Gee, what do you think?” and grunted.

Mrs. Kobayashi smiled. “You want some help?”

Sashi sighed, frowned, and nodded. “Yes, please.”

Mrs. Kobayashi stepped into the room. “Why don't you go get your hair ready, I'll go pick out a dress for you?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Sashi walked over to her desk, and looked into the mirror she rarely used. Most times she was wishing it wasn't so big, now she realized it wasn't big enough.

She looked at her hair, still tied up in its usual pigtails. She hesitantly reached up into the pink bands that held them together, and removed them. The two pigtails exploded into loose versions of themselves, several locks flying up in every single direction possible, and Sashi suddenly remembered why she always tied them like that.

Sashi sighed and shook her hair out. The whole thing got even more out of control, and she scowled.

Her hair was down and loose, like her mother and all the guides said they should be if she wanted to style them into something different. Now, the only question was, what style was she going to use, and more importantly, could she tame her hair without it looking like a messy disaster or spontaneously destructing as soon as she moved?

Knowing what dress she was going to wear would help immensely. She turned around to her mother, opened her mouth to ask a question, and then her jaw dropped and her cheeks turned red again.

Mrs. Kobayashi chuckled. “So is that a 'Yes' to this dress?”

It was one of her grandmother's gifts for her, a red Chinese _qipao_ dress in her size, with a ferocious golden dragon embroidered on the front. It was a more modern cut, so the skirt ended somewhere down her thighs rather than reaching down to her ankles.

“It's beautiful and intimidating, just like you.” Grandma Kobayashi said after Sashi pulled it out of the box.

Sashi was speechless then, she was speechless now. She tried to remember what exactly she had said about that dress earlier. She couldn't, mostly because she was wondering why her mother would have even chosen in in the first place, especially for an occasion like this.

Mrs. Kobayashi laid the dress back on Sashi's bed, away from the pile. “I think a nice bun will work great with this, don't you think?”

Sashi's neck was already starting to hurt. She nodded and turned her head back to the mirror. She frowned as soon as she saw that her hair had somehow turned even wilder since she pulled it out of the pigtails.

Her mother walked up behind her, and smiled at her from the mirror. “Want some help with your hair after you get dressed?”

Sashi sighed again. “Yes, please.”

“Okay. Just call me when you're ready.” Mrs. Kobayashi turned around, left the room, and closed the door behind her.

Sashi got up from her desk and turned to the dress. Her mother had laid it out so the dragon was looking right at her. She felt vaguely threatened. Or maybe that was the first date nerves her mother and all the guides had told her about.

She looked at her phone, laid out with a stopwatch counting down the minutes she had to get ready.

More than enough time to put on the dress, possibly even get her hair completely in control, and do a little make up, too.

But not if she kept idling and didn't actually do any of those.

Sashi took a deep breath, put on her serious mission face, and stalked over to the dress like it was an actual dragon spewing flame.

“Alright, let's do this...”

* * *

The dress felt amazing, 100% pure silk. She looked fantastic in it, even with her hair a complete and absolute mess. The dragon still looked terrifying, but now that she was wearing it, it felt like it was lovingly coiled around her like a fire breathing guard dog.

And yet Sashi wanted nothing more than to get rid of it and find some other dress.

“Look at this skirt! I should get something that doesn't show as much thigh, right?” Sashi said as she sat at her desk.

“Sashi, sweetie, it's 2015, it's perfectly okay for girls to wear dresses that show off their knees and most of their thighs.” Her mother said as she gathered Sashi's hair into a pony tail.

“Well maybe something that isn't this tight? I mean, this has got to be crossing some sort of line, right?” Sashi said as her mother stuck in the chopstick.

“Lots of waitresses and other women wearing this exact same dress would like to disagree with you, sweetie.” Mrs. Kobayashi calmly replied as she separated Sashi's hair into two parts.

Sashi whimpered. “What will he think about me when he sees me in this…?”

Mrs. Kobayashi chuckled as she started winding Sashi's hair into a bun. “Well, I guess you'll just have to show him to find out, won't you?”

Sashi opened her mouth again, before she sighed, and went silent. Her mother finished tying the bun and secured it with a few discrete pins to make sure no stray strands escaped.

Mrs. Kobayashi moved back and admired her work. “Oh, sweetie, you look positively beautiful!” She looked at Sashi's phone, still on the stopwatch, and at the untouched cosmetics she'd laid out for Sashi. “And we have time for a little make-up, too.”

Sashi paled. “Make-up…?!” She choked. “N-no, I look fine right now, right?!”

Mrs. Kobayashi chuckled. “A little extra never hurt, sweetie. Just some eyeshadow, some blush, and maybe a little lipstick?”

Sashi looked down at the stopwatch. Her mother was right, there was plenty of time still for make-up. She was starting to seriously regret not dawdling and wasting that time earlier.

“… Fine. But make it quick, please, he could be here any minute now!”

“Oh, trust me, sweetie, if there is one thing you don't want to rush, it's your make-up. Now, I think this eyeshadow will really bring out those intelligent brown eyes of yours...”

* * *

Sashi thought she had somehow ended up zapping into some dimension where she was an impossibly more attractive version of herself, one that could flawlessly pull off this dress, that make-up, and especially these heels.

Just as an experiment, she pressed the hidden button on her specs. No projection, which meant it hadn't been charged with MUT energy, which meant she wasn't in a mission.

And the girl looking at her in her parent's full length mirror was actually her.

Sashi stared at herself some more. Just as an experiment, she pinched herself.

“Ow!”

She rubbed the now sore spot. Okay, definitely not dreaming, either.

She peered closer at herself. Was her eyeshadow the wrong shade? Should she have put on this much lipstick? Or was it too little? Did the blush look a just a little too red, and not enough pink?

Sashi reached up and tried to fix a strand of her hair that had untucked itself from her ear.

“Sashi, your date's here!”

Sashi froze, her fingers just on the strand. She thanked herself that she wasn't the type to flinch much when she was scared, or else make-up was going to be the least of her concerns. She let the stray strand where it was; she could fix it later.

Right now, there was something—or rather someone—that was more important than fixing a little problem with her hair.

Sashi took a deep breath. “You can do this...” She mumbled to her reflection, before she turned around, and strode to the main room of her apartment.

She looked down at her feet, focusing entirely on her stride as she walked. She'd rarely ever wore high heels, and the last thing she needed right now was to trip, break one of them, and make a fool of herself.

Like something out of a cheesy romcom, she looked up and saw Penn at the same time as he did.

And just like a cheesy romcom, the two of them froze and gaped at each other.

Penn's hair was still curly and wild, nothing could change that. What did change, however, was his clothes: from shirt, chainmail, jeans, and sneakers, he now wore a three piece suit, a rather slick one that made his lean build just look sharp, smart, and just a little bit intimidating. Not even the red bowtie or the white accented wingtip shoes could ruin it; if anything, it made him look better, more…

Penn. Only cleaned up, fixed up, and vastly more attractive than Sashi had ever remembered him being.

“Wow, you look--”

“Woah, Sash, you're--”

The both of them stopped. In yet another scene in her life that was quickly turning into a romantic comedy, the two of them smiled nervously and awkwardly gestured for the other to go first.

Her parents and her little brother watched, amused and taking photos to immortalize this moment for future, good-intentioned humiliation.

Eventually, an awkward silence fell between the two of them, the awkwardness only growing more and more mortifying each passing second.

“So, how about that movie?” Penn said, as he gestured to the door.

Sashi quickly nodded and strode to the door as quickly as her heels could take her. She wobbled, never having practiced running or fast running in these things.

Suddenly she felt an arm wrapping around her waist and another on her shoulder. She looked up and saw Penn holding her, wearing that “Everything's gonna be alright.” smile of his.

Sashi didn't know how she remained standing, but she did, and for that, she was grateful. She didn't need her legs to give out and give Penn an excuse to keep on holding her up—though that wasn't entirely a--

“So, you kids just going to stand there all night or are you going to see a movie?” Mr. Kobayashi said.

The two of them blushed. Sashi shot her family a glare, before turning back to the door with her head down. She held out her arm, and Penn quickly looped his arm around it.

Together, the two of them strode out and to the elevator.

By some good fortune, the two of them were completely alone in there. Penn pressed the button for the ground floor, and the two of them stood in the elevator, arms still looped around each other.

“You look beautiful tonight. More than usual.” Penn said. “Especially with, uh, that dress. It looks really good on you. Like, really good.”

Sashi blushed. “… Thanks.” She smiled nervously. “You're not half bad in that suit, too, and the, uh… bowtie.”

Penn unhooked his arm and nervously tugged at it. “Uh, yeah… I thought it looked stupid, but my aunt insisted that this was what my dad wore on his first date with mom, and it might be good luck to, uh… you know, wear it.” He paused. “Not that I mean that I mean to imply that--”

The elevator stopped. The doors opened, and several more tenants of the building climbed on, dressed for a much more casual Friday night out.

Penn and Sashi scooted to one side to make room. The two of them were keenly aware of how close they were together, enough to feel the heat on the each other's cheeks.

There was still driving to the theater, two hours alone in dark theater with some flick neither of them were really that interested in, and dinner after that. Sashi was relatively sure she could make it through without making a complete, absolute fool of herself like spontaneously jumping Penn and making out with him right there and then.

At the very least, she was dressed nice, and that had to count for something, right?


End file.
